Technical efficiency of crop production in Punjab: Stochastic frontier production function approach

The paper attempts to analyse the technical efficiency of crop production among different size categories of the farms in the Punjab state. The study is based on the primary data collected from 270 farmers consisting of 70 marginal, 100 small and 100 other category of farmers from different regions of the state. Technical efficiency of individual farmers has been estimated through stochastic frontier production function analysis. This shows wide variation among different categories of farmers; the highest efficiency was observed among small farmers (77%), and lowest (71%) among marginal farmers, having inverse relationship with farm size. The analysis underscore that there was considerable scope to improve the output of the crops in the existing conditions of input use and technology among farmers in general and marginal farmers in particulars in crop production. The study had shown that farm size turned out to be powerful drivers of inefficiency at the farm level.